In the l8th century the English theologian William Paley likened
the Creation to an intricate watch and the Creator to the watchmaker. Here is a 20th century version of that analogy.

The watch was a very fine instrument indeed. At least that's
what John tried to reassure himself after buying it on impulse that
morning. It was not that he really questioned its quality, but for a
poor college student, any purchase of that magnitude was hard to
justify. His father nodded his head approvingly as he handed it
back to John.

"It's the most beautiful watch I've ever seen," his father said.

The only inscription on the watch face was "Made by Wort,"
but in the box was a brochure that gave more information and
which was signed, "Herr Wort." In the brochure Wort explained
how he loved to make watches and how he loved people. He hoped
that people everywhere would enjoy, appreciate, and take good
care of his watches. He also mentioned that all the watches were
made by him with very special care.

During the next several weeks, John's appreciation of the watch
increased, for it was not only beautiful, but also ran with the
highest precision and was very durable. Many other people in the
city purchased Wort watches and a good number of them along
with John and his father began to regard Wort as a very special
person. Their admiration of Wort was based on more than just his
ability to make fine watches, for in the brochure he presented a
view of life that gave it deep meaning and purpose. Soon those
committed to his teachings began to call themselves Wortists and
meet together periodically in Wort Clubs.

One day the following article appeared in the New York Times:

MYSTERY WATCHMAKER
GAINS UNPRECEDENTED FOLLOWING

"Last month a shipment of watches arrived in New York City from Switzerland. Since then, the watches have been
praised for their excellence, and the watchmakerphilosopher known as Wort has received a surprising degree
of popular support. Wort himself remains quite a mystery,
however. No one in the International Association of Watchmakers seems to know who he is, where in Switzerland he
works, or how he is able to make watches of such superior
quality."

On campus several weeks later a friend tossed on John's desk an
issue of Newsweek open to the science section. "Take a look at
this," He said. "Your Mr. Wort is amazing!"

The article read as follows:

"The location of the master watchmaker Wort has finally
been discovered in an alpine valley in Switzerland. For the
past few months the watches and teachings of Wort have
captured the admiration of people throughout the country.
This report will do little to diminish the interest in this
remarkable man.

The watchmaker's shop was closed tightly when I arrived,
but from inside came the unmistakable sound of
machinery. Since no one would answer the door, I climbed
onto some boxes to look through the only window in the
building. In the room was a large machine, and Wort could
be seen maintaining it and checking the dials. On the top
were cone-shaped hoppers, along one side were a series of
conveyer belts carrying various watch parts, and on one end complete watches would periodically leave the machine for
packaging. Apparently Wort had built a machine that can
take the individual watch parts and assemble them into a
watch of very high quality."

John quickly called his father and read him the article. They
could hardly believe it; Wort clearly had a greater creative intellect
than they had ever imagined. But before they could fully comprehend the meaning of this latest discovery, the following article
appeared in Time the next week.

"The recent discovery of the watchmaker shop of Herr Wort
has further increased the public fascination with this
brilliant man. During the past week, I apparently became
the first reporter to meet Wort in person. As he was leaving
the shop, I asked him who he was and why he made the watches. Without looking up he handed me the brochure that
comes with the watches. When I pressed him further for
some information on how the watches were made, he gave
me a wry smile and glanced over his shoulder at his shop. It
was clear that he was not going to answer that question
directly, but he seemed almost to invite me to enter the shop
for a closer look.

Inside the shop the watchmaking machine was truly
awesome. It filled nearly the whole room and contained a
multitude of moving parts and dials. Probably more out of
frustration than curiosity, I climbed onto a chair to peer into the hoppers. Incredibly, the hoppers did not contain the
assorted wheels and screws of a watch but a range of
various pulverized metals and minerals. As I left the shop, I
realized that I had witnessed one of the greatest engineering
achievements in history."

When John and his father read the latest account, they laughed
with delight. "It seems there is no end to the accomplishments of
this man," John's father said.

Returning to campus on the bus later that day, John happened
to sit among a group of particularly vocal non-wortists, who were
discussing the recent news reports about the watches.

"I knew there had to be a machine making those watches," one
said.

"Yes," laughed another, "just a machine-it's probably been
there all along. I guess we can finally throw out the myth of Wort
once and for all."

"I wonder who the guy was that the reporter spoke to."

"Probably just the delivery man," joked one. "Maybe the nice
one who is sending us all the watches. He sure fooled that
reporter. "

When John got home that evening and related this occurrence,
his father shook his head sadly. "It's very unfortunate, but hardly
surprising. "

"But how can they possibly believe that such a complex machine
was not made by a person of superior intellegence?" said John.

"I'm sure I don't know. Sometimes I wonder if they really
believe what they're saying. Anyway," continued his father,
"tomorrow night we can forget about the incident and recognize
Wort's accomplishment properly. Our Wort Club has called a
special meeting to discuss the recent events. It should be a wonderful time."

The next evening, of all times, John's father had to work late.
By the time they got to the meeting, it had already started. As soon
as they entered, they realized something was wrong as they
an attitude of bitterness and antagonism.

"There can be no machine," someone said. "I think we
protest this outrage by cancelling all subscriptions to TimeNewsweek."

"That's right," said another. "It's clear that those reporters allies of the non-wortists. It's a scandalous job of biased and
subjective reporting."

"Even if there was something that looked like a machine,
reporters did not see the watches actually being made. Wort
have assembled the various parts by hand some place else."

"Whatever the reporters claimed to see," said the leader,
know the machine did not make the watches. After all Wort's
in the Brochure that he made the watches. There obviously
be no machine."

It was hard for John and his father to believe what was
place. It wasn't long before the group had branded all people
looked favorably on the machine as Machinists, and soon som
stated that no good Wortist could possibly be a Machinist. Finally
John's father could remain silent no longer.

"Why are we talking like this?" he said. "Why do you find
machine so threatening? I thought we would all be thrilled at
new and even greater evidence of Wort's creative ability. How
this discovery possibly lessen someone's esteem of Wort? Furthermore, I find no conflict whatever in the machine and Wort's statement in the Brochure."

"What's wrong," someone shouted, "don't you believe W
could have made the watches without the machine?"

"But if he made the machine, of course he ..." John's father was interrupted by someone in the next row.

"No Wortist should believe in the machine! Those that do
compromising the truth stated by Wort. They are collaborating
with the enemy."

The ride home was the saddest of trips for John and his father
especially when they realized what a joyous meeting it could
been.

"I never would have guessed the degree of hostility that
Wortist friends have for the machine," the father said. "I particularly don't understand why the machine issue should be made
matter of such importance-the watches were made by Wort either case. Why can't we unite and concentrate on the
really important issues in the Brochure?"

They rode the rest of the way in silence. As they reached
home, John said, "You know, I've been thinking. In the Brochure
where Wort says that we should appreciate his watches, doesn't
that also imply that we should appreciate his machine that
the watches."

"It would seem that way to me," his father answered. "the
amazing part of this whole sad event is how some people can
the beauty and wonder of his watches but not of his machine.